


The origins of Connor Kent

by nev_longbottom



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Krypton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29896008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nev_longbottom/pseuds/nev_longbottom
Summary: Kon-El goes to earth.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	The origins of Connor Kent

**Author's Note:**

> incomplete w.i.p. rewrite of season one

Connor’s been dreaming of going to Earth for as long as he can remember. Probably longer than he can remember, especially with the way Mother told him bed time stories.

“On Earth, the sky is blue - like your eyes and the sun is yellow like the Elyim flowers that grow on the surface. They have mountains with covered in huge shrubs called trees and much of the land is covered in small green leaves called grass.... In my favorite earth language, Kon-El translates to Connor which means much wanted and you baby boy are very much wanted.” She would give him a big kiss on his forehead and tuck him into his bed before she told him more about the smell of the wind, the way Earth rain felt on skin and on and on until Connor would fall asleep

When he got older and started school with Kara, he asked about earth schools. Connor liked to hear her stories about a world without bullies, without computer interfaces and without Lecturers who never bothered to see Connor as anything other than another prodigy of the House of El.

Father would smile at him benevolently when he received Connor’s reports. “Excellent, Kon-El. You are showing great worth as a son of the House of El. If Kal-El isn’t careful, you just might be my heir instead.” 

Then he’d ruffle Connor’s hair and laugh when Connor would huff, and cross his arms to sulk, demanding to be called by his earth name.

“My apologies, Connor,” Father would say and walk away snickering.

***

Growing up in Kal-El’s shadow had been miserable for Connor and Kara. Everyone had nothing but the best remarks about Kal-El. Nevermind that Connor was the youngest graduate of the fifteen level Kryptonian education system at the age of eleven, with two focuses and five specialties. Kal-El had been so charming and charismatic and perfect. No one ever mentioned than Kal-El left one night without any warning. Connor hadn’t even known about it himself until he asked Zor-El why he had never seen Kal-El in person.

His uncle had snorted, and actually put down his programming data-pad to tell him. “Jor-El, Lara-El, and Kal-El went on a vacation to Earth for a few months to celebrate his completion of his tenth level. They enjoyed the trip so much, they returned again a year later to celebrate his birthday. Imagine our surprise when they came back with you. No one would have pegged Kal-El for the type to knock up a human and leave his bastard with his parents but if Lara had been pregnant, they would have just come home. Don’t worry, no one holds your hybrid genetics against you. My brother clearly learned his parenting mistakes.” 

Then he had picked up with programming pad and frowned at it. “Kal-El disappeared the night they announced his betrothal. He stole a ship and left behind a hologram with some nonsense about learning to become his own man. Dramatic foolishness. Even when he runs away, Kal-El outshines the other heirs. Try to take after Lara. She’s the sensible one.”

Even when Kal-El shamed his House, he managed to out do Connor. The only person who could even come close to commiserating was Connor’s cousin Kara.

“I’ve won twelve fighting championships. Twelve. The only thing anyone ever says is, Nice job Kara, maybe you’ll grow up to be Kal some day.” Kara would go to Kon-El quarters in the El family compound and throw his pillows at the wall until she calmed down. “Good work Kara, you remind me of Kal-El. It’s so sweet how you’re trying to follow in your cousin’s footsteps. I could scream.”

“I’m supposed to start the Organic Artificial Intelligence apprenticeship next week. The one Kal-EL was supposed to do. All I want to do is run away and even if I ran away, all they would say is that I’m just like Kal. I can’t even run away without his shadow.” Connor flopped back in his bed and scowled. 

“Why don’t we?” Kara said, reaching for her data-pad to make notes. “Why don’t we steal two pods and runaway? I hate engineering. I’m rather study Nuero-medicine but you know what father’s like. Ever since he got control of the House of El, he’s been a complete control freak. Even if you can’t run away forever, Kal will let us stay with him. I know you were too little to remember him,but I do. Kal’s like Aunt Lara, really kind and giving and totally crazy protective. He thought this Thanagarian guy was trying to abduct me from a playspace and Kal beat him to a pulp.”

“That was back when they started the Brainiac project, right? Before Father and Uncle Zor-El hired bodyguards?”

“Let’s do it, Kon.”

That’s how Connor found himself packing a bag and waiting in the ship hangar for Kara. His data pad beeped a few minutes towards the hour. “Father caught me. You have to hurry, he thinks you’re still packing. If you leave now, you can make it.”

He climbed into one of the escape pods, programed it for Earth and lets the programming whisk him into the night sky. It’s only when the chamber begins to fill with the tranquilizer than will let him travel for the next three weeks without aging, that he realizes he forgot to leave his parents a letter. 

When he next opened his eyes, he found himself looking up at a violet-black sky with dozens of tiny white lights. When he opened his pod, there were have a dozen strangely dressed Kryptonian like beings - humans he supposed - standing around his pod, that seemed to have been placed inside a glass domed spaceship;. He looked at all of them, hoping to see a familiar face. Even if it had been twelve years since anyone had seen Kal. He gulped when he saw that one of them was Green Lantern. There was a chance his parents had reported him as a runaway and he was officially busted.

“Does anyone know Kal-El of Krypton?” Connor stuck his arms up to show he didn’t have any weapons. “Sabes quien es Kal-El de Krypton? Dare ka eigo o hanaseru hi wa imasu ka?” Conner cringed at his heavy Kryptonian accent before trying English. “Do you speak English? I’m looking for Kal-El of Krypton.”

As soon as he said Kal-El, the human dressed in black tensed. The others started whispering to each other, confusing Connor completely until he realized he had forgotten to turn on his universal translator. He slowly pulled out his personal Data-Pad and turned on the Translation App, and hoped he hadn’t been arrested by the Green Lantern Corps.

“...don’t you think we should call the Big Guy? This kid looks like he’s barely hit puberty and I’m pretty sure those are Kryptonian marking on the hull and -oh, hey, that little cell-phone looking thing is repeating what I say in another language. Neat.” The alien dressed in red grinned at him. 

Connor held up a finger until the program finished working and he could tell the program to download the language into his orga-interface. “Sorry, I had to wait until my translator could help me with some of the trickier words. I’m headed to Earth to find Kal-El of Krypton. I’m his,” Conner stumbled, wondering if he should call Kal his brother, the way his family had always raised him to, or if he should mutter the truth and just say father. “I’m part of his family. My name is Kon-El and I would really like to know if I’m being arrested for speeding in a restricted space zone. ”

The entire room looked shocked. 

The other green dressed humanoid muttered, “....thought he said he was an only child.” 

Connor could feel himself wilt. “It’s complicated.”

They took Connor to a room where he waited until the arrival of a tall, broad shouldered man who bore little resemblance to Connor’s shy Kryptonian brother in holograms, always the picture of Kryptionian masculinity with a friendly smile, his eyes shying from the holo recorder with humility. Connor barely had a moment to look at him before Kal-El had his arms wrapped around him in a huge hug.

“Connor, Connor, Connor,” Kal-El murmured.

“HI,” Connor said shyly. “Long time no see, brother.” He buried his nose in his brother’s hair and sniffed. He smelled like sulpher, carbon, and Elyim flowers. He’d always wondered what Kal would smell like from the few letters he would send to their parents. “Sorry I got arrested by a Green Lantern.”

Kal-El squeezed him a little tighter. “You’re not arrested. John’s a friend.” He pulled back far enough for Connor to look at him. Kal-El’s eyes were blue, just like Connor’s. In fact, considering that Connor looked an awful lot like Kal-El did at that age, this was probably what he was going to look like when he finished growing. Connor could live with that.

“I want to know everything about you,” Kal-EL said.

They talked for hours. Connor heard all about Kal-El’s life. Apparently after stealing a ship and a few wedding gifts, Kal-El ended up being taken in by an earth family who needed agriculture assistance (“...it’s called a farm, and it’s - well, you have to see a cow to really get the picture but...), and then he went on to submit news holos to the local news stream before being promoted to a major news stream (“Newspapers are text based and printed on paper...Remind me to show you what paper is...”). He started protecting the people of earth from crime and eventually founded a league of heroes who protected the planet from threats.

In return, Kal-El asked him so many questions about Krypton and everything he was up to, so Conor told him about Kara and Father and Mother and how miserable it was to spend all his Education Levels by himself because he learned quicker than his classmates.

“Can I stay here with you?” Conner asked and then winced. He had meant to sound smoother, work his way up to it after a few days of hiding. “I’ve been wanting to see Earth my whole life. I learned earth languages and studied the little bit of culture information that we’ve gleaned. And I kind of want to get to know my,” Conner sputtered when he saw Kal’s expression quickly turned guarded, “My brother.”

Kal-El that guarded look shifted into a smile and Kal-El gave Conner a hard shoulder slap. It made the uneasy feeling in Conner’s stomach a little worse. He hadn’t just come for Earth, he had come to know why he was born, why his ...brother had just left, he wanted - something. Conner knew he wanted something but he wasn’t sure what. He made himself give Kal a smile back. Maybe if he stayed long enough, everything would work out.

Connor was in love with Kal’s living complex. It was a bedroom with a tiny bathroom, a large room that served as study, entertainment reception and kitchen. He thinks it’s efficiency is amazing and he’s stunned that the walls are made of a wooden substance. “This planet is absurdly wealthy.” Kal sighed and started his lecture of relative values for what felt like the hundredth time.

Kal promised they can start looking for a larger place in the morning but in the meanwhile, Connor could have the efficient room to himself. After years of maze complexes with parental overrides required to venture outside of a sleeping quarter - it felt like a universe of freedom.

Kal showed Connor Metropolis and he fell completely in love with the glass buildings and crumbling brick side by side with green trees and laughter. Sunlight on his skin made him feel like when he was eight and he took his first breath of air after being underwater. 

Kal wants Connor to go to school here and the look Connor gave him in response is so despondent, Kal hastily offers to take him to enroll him in college which is- still still horrifying but Kal swears it’s what many humans do instead of apprenticeship in the sciences and maths. Then there’s also training for all the abilities they get from the sun. Not that Connor would be doing any crime fighting. Kal insisted it was dangerous and Connor wholeheartedly agreed. 

***

Conner waited in the shadows nervously for Young Justice to start. He waited until Batman and Superman have finished talking to the team and he took a nervous step forward. “Hi, I’m Superboy,” He said, staring at each of his four teammates in turn before he remembered what Clark had said about smiling. He gave them all a nervous smile which they returned with their own open smiles. “My earth name is Conner.” He wondered if he had waited too long between speaking. Kara often accused him of being socially awkward. She used to hit him when he got too lost in his own head.

Robin was smirking even, most likely Batman had debriefed him on the situation. “I’m Robin,” he said, waving his hand through the air.

Before Conner could hold out his hand in a ritualistic Earthan handshake, the yellow and red dressed human ran out in front of him, waving his own hand, “Hiya there, Kid Flash here. Call me KF. Man, you are built like a brick house. How’s Earth for you?”

“Good,” Conner said. This time Conner didn’t need to force a smile. Earth was everything he imagined it would be and more. Everything about this place made him feel stronger and not just because of the sun’s energy. Clark was so different from the rest of their family. He had thought Mother and Father were affectionate but Clark hugged him several times a day and handed out praise that felt as good as the sun at midday. Earth was amazing.

Kaldur introduced himself with a smile and and an arm hold, as per Atlantian ceremony of greeting new friends. The fourth member, dressed in black and red, crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave him the most fragile look of hope he had ever seen. “I’m Megan Morse. Um, you can call me Miss Martian on the field. I hope to be a good team member. It’s nice to meet you Superboy.”

She looked like J’onn, with her thin build and delicate fingers, but the way her eyes slipped away from him reminded Conner of an injury kaffit bird. Dull eyes and plumes that turn dark with their sorrows. 

She flinched.

Conner cringed when he realized she probably heard that thought. He tried to mentally shout SORRY and said, “Martian Manhunter has been very kind.” 

Conner had hoped to place her at ease but her eyes started to produce excess moisture. 

“I should go check on my cookies. Excuse me,” She floated out of the room, much to the immediate groans of the others. Conner turned to Clark just in time to not be caught unawares when Clark pulled Conner into a big hug. 

“I’ll explain to you the situation when you get home. Now,” Clark pulled away and started fussing with Conner’s clothes, adjusting the collar on his short travel robe, even tugging up the hem on his Earthan jeans, much to Conner’s horror, “Don’t talk back to Black Canary, she knows what she’s talking about. Make sure you spend at least an hour outside the cave in the sun. If you get scared or nervous you can always call me and we can go home. Don’t forget to eat your vegetables. And don’t spend all your time doing computer programming, be sure to play with your friends.” 

Clark stopped fussing with Conner’s clothes and started adjusting his hair. Conner stood still during the motions. As much as he wanted to protest, it warmed him to have Clark fuss over him as much as their father did when he was small, before Zor-El insisted he move into separate barracks with Kara and begin the intensive tutoring.

KF groaned, “And I thought the Flash was bad.”

“Have I told you lately that I love you?” Robin said to Batman. 

Batman huffed in response. “Let’s go Superman, they have training.” He gripped Clark’s shoulder until Conner’s brother stopped his fussing.

Conner watched the zeta beams as they teleported up to the Watchtower. He made a mental note to look into the power use schematics because he was sure there had to be a 14% waste of resources. He paid little attention to his teammates until Kaldur repeated the phrase training exercise twice.

“What are we doing?” he asked.

KF frowned, “Not too quick on the uptake, are ya? Kaldur wanted to know what your powers are before we begin a training exercise.” During the entire portion of his speech, KF moved at at nearly a blurr, darting around the room.

Conner settled into a reporting stance - legs apart, hands crossed before his chest - and recited, “Microscopic vision, enhanced hearing, enhanced strength, completion of All Kryptonian Education Levels, multiple Earthan languages, and an affinity for technological design, Commander Kaldur.”

“Just Kaldur,” his commanding officer stated, shifting his weight in a manner to indicate discomfort. “There is no need for formality here. Have you any weaknesses we should be aware of?”

Conner shoved his hands in his Earthan jeans pockets and shrugged. “Combat of any kind? I haven’t ever done anything. My cousin Kara’s the only one who’s any good at fighting. Her an K- Superman.” Codenames felt ridiculous but Batman insisted.

Kaldur nodded with a slight look of confusion. “I will speak to Black Canary. In the meanwhile, would you enjoy a sparring match? Two on Two?”

“Shotgun the new guy!”

***

The sparring match was a little bit of a hopeless failure. With this invulnerability, Conner mostly watches everyone else battle while he throws some rather embarrassing punches. The one half-hearted hit he lands manages to punch Robin into a wall and even Robin’s quick recovery still made him feel guilty. Until something hit him on the back of the head and he woke up on the ground.

“No offense, but that was really bad. What are you even doing here if you can’t fight?” Kid Flash looked almost offended.

Conner wasn’t surprised. “Superman thinks I need more social interaction.”

***

Conner worked out a system fairly quickly. He woke up in the morning and used the cleansing room (with flowing liquid instead of sonic waves, just like in his xenobiology textfile) and dressed while Kal cooked. They would breakfast together, talking about how their days will go before they both stumbled out the front door for their respective place. Conner would spend a few hours at the campus, sitting in on the minimum classes required to achieve the same credentials as krypton, and then sitting in on as many different cultural classes as he can manage. At the end of the afternoon, he would take a zeta beam to work on his papers in the mountain and go back to have supper with Clark. On the weekends, he trained with Black Canary and his teammates, and updated the defenses in between rounds of human culture immersion.

It took him a week of sitting at the kitchen counter with his textbooks before he had the courage to ask Megan a question. He had meant to ask her about why she was always at the cave but instead he blurted out, “Why do you cook?”

“Cooking’s fun!” Megan says, cheery smile for once reaching her eyes. “I wasn’t programmed with this knowledge so I can learn lots by following books and the cooking channel. It’s great. You know how my favorite TV Show is Hello, Megan?” 

Conner didn’t know that but he nodded anyway. 

“Well, the character on that show loves cooking so when the League left me in the Caves, I thought, golly, Kid Flash is always hungry, might as well give it a shot.” She stirred the pot of stew she was fussing over and reached for a spot over the cupboard. “I’m told it’s all very Earthen. Everyone has to eat sometimes and if I don’t cook, who will? It’s lots of fun if you want to try it with me some time. I could show you that apple pie recipe you love.” 

Conner watched the way her hands stirred in steady, patient circles, and marveled a little.His whole life had been so regimented, that watching her felt like watching free will. Here was a person whose genetic material was been stolen from J’onn’s family, someone had been brainwashed to be a weapon, and she spent her days helping people. She cooked, she bandaged people up after training injuries, she even remembered his favorite type of pie.

Oh god, Conner thought, this must be what forming an emotional attachment feels like. He panicked, knocking his bar stool over in his haste to get up. “I have to go...” he frantically thought of a lie. “...repair something.”

***

Kon-El woke up in a dessert. He jerked around, frantically running his hands over his body, to try and find radiation shielding before he looked up into a foreign sky. The constellations looked vaguely familiar. They were obviously not Kryptonian, but they looked a vaguely familiar. “Too cold for Apokolips, maybe I’m on Tameran?” He checked his inner robe pocket and pulled out his datapad. The galactic positioning system listed him as being on Earth in a country called Bialyia.

When he went in to his datapad to tell his parents he had been drugged and abandoned on Earth, he saw the date was set to six months in the future. Impossible, the last thing he could remember was watching Kara’s Death Combat competition in Kandor.

He stopped and checked the other programs in his work book. He found dozens of software schematics he hadn’t designed that looked like his work, repair work and coding that looked like it served an enclosed living quarter set, and hundreds of pictures of a green skinned humanoid, with bright red hair and a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I know you. I know I know you but I can’t remember.” He traced the features of her face with his finger and wondered what he could have done to merit losing her from his life. 

An explosion went off in the distance and Kon remembered that Earth had several ongoing wars at once. He tried to send a distress signal out to Kal but there was some kind of tech blocking him. Kon looked at the battery life left and slipped it into the inside pocket of his robes. He had get out of the desert and hope he could find a way to get in touch with his brother or else.

He could hear voices murmuring over the sand dune and with nothing else to do, he headed in that direction. By the time he got over the hill, there were three arguing masked humans, all braced in battle formation.

“You aren’t Superman,” said one of them, strange shaped throwing weapon in his hand. Kon threw his hands up and squinted, they were dressed like the people in his holo images.

“This may sound weird, but I don’t remember the past six months, but I do have a lot of pictures of us spending time together with my brother, Kal-El. Look.”


End file.
